Prepare your pan(s) with butter and flour or paper liners for cupcakes.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl.

When light and fluffy, add in the eggs, one at a time and blend until fully incorporated.

Add the vanilla and mix in.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Add flour mixture in three batches to the butter mixture. Mix each addition just until blended in.

Stir in the milk, mixing on low speed until the batter is smooth.

Put batter into prepared pan(s).

Bake 30 to 40 minutes (20 to 25 for cupcakes) at 350°F. Cake is done when it springs back when touched in the middle.

There's a lot you can do with this cake, you can serve it with a fruit coulis, with a traditional or cooked buttercream, with whipped cream, or covered in a chocolate ganache. Because the cake is just sweet, buttery and vanilla-y, it's a perfect complement to just about any topping.

This is not my recipe in the way that the others I've shared thus far have been. I didn't do too much improvising with this one, because it was my first go around with gluten-free anything. This one comes almost directly from celiac.com, though the recipe there is poorly written. Mind you, for someone who is highly sensitive to gluten, it's my understanding that using your regular, gluteny equipment might pose a problem, so you might not want to serve this to dear Aunt Emma unless you check with her first.

I owe you all a cookie recipe! Yesterday went all haywire and I didn't get one posted, so today I will post two. First up, one for Saturday, when there's a little extra time for a baking project. This is my fussed around version of the delicious almond cookies that are typically only available at Chinese restaurants. The ones at restaurants, I've learned, are typically made with lard, if made on-site, or with the cheapest form of shortening if pre-bought. Yuck and double yuck. This version is less crumbly and more flavorful, in my opinion, and made with good, old-fashioned butter.

These are not cookies making an effort at healthy. But they're sugar cookies, and who doesn't love a good sugar cookie? And even better, they're also on the easier side of sugar cookies, requiring no rolling, which is the bane of my personal existence. They require a few hours of lead time, but I'm willing to make dough a day (or three!) ahead of time if I don't have to roll it! This recipe makes about three dozen cookies.

It's my birthday, and so I'm being indulgent. This is my favorite cookie. In fact, it's a cookie based on my favorite cake. Red velvet cake, however, is complicated. Red velvet cookies on the other hand? Easy peasy.

I asked on Twitter what sort of recipe I should post today, and hily said "something healthyish." Now healthy cookie is, to me, an idea on the verge of blasphemy... or is it? These cookies are loaded with fruit, fiber and nuts, get a dose of good iron from the molasses and are fairly low in fat, too. Can't beat that in a cookie, can you?

From now through May 16, I will be posting a new cookie recipe every day in celebration of three_weeks_for_dw, an effort to create new and unique content in Dreamwidth journals and communities to celebrate the first anniversary of open beta. Anyone who like to join in and post new recipes here (that aren't posted outside of Dreamwidth) during these three weeks, please feel free, and please be sure to tag your recipes with the "three weeks for dreamwidth" tag.

For the first cookie recipe, a good way to use up bananas that are too soft to eat out of hand.

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla and cream with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat just until well incorporated. Fold in the bananas and set aside.